The first European club trophy of the 2019/20 season will be won on Wednesday 14th August in the UEFA Super Cup. This final is contested by the winners of the Champions League and the winners of the Europa League. The match will be played at the Vodafone Stadium in Istanbul.
Liverpool won the Champions League last season, defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the final while Chelsea won the Europa League, beating Arsenal in the final.
Not much has changed at Liverpool since their win over Spurs in the Champions League final at the end of last season. They did not make any big moves in the transfer market but managed to keep hold of their key players from last season, which is good.
Liverpool started the new Premier League season with a home match against newly promoted Norwich City on Friday night. It did not take long for Liverpool to establish a lead and they went in at half-time 4-0 up. Norwich improved in the second half and scored a goal to make the final score 4-1 to Liverpool.
This will be the fifth time Liverpool have played in the UEFA Super Cup and that last time they were involved was against CSKA Moscow in 2005. The match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and Liverpool scored two goals in extra-time to seal the win and lift the trophy.
📸 Final preparations in Istanbul! #SuperCup— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 13, 2019
📸 Final preparations in Istanbul! #SuperCup
Chelsea have contested the UEFA Super Cup more recently than their opponents. They played in both the 2012 and 2013 UEFA Super Cup, losing 4-1 to Atletico Madrid in 2012. The Blues took Bayern Munich all the way in the 2013 match but ended up losing on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra-time.
Preseason was difficult for Chelsea and they lost their manager, Maurizio Sarri, to Juventus. Frank Lampard has stepped into the hot seat at Stamford Bridge but has lost their star performer, Eden Hazard, to Real Madrid.
Chelsea started the 2019/20 Premier League season last weekend with a tough fixture at Old Trafford. Despite doing well at times in the first half, Chelsea fell 1-0 behind and three goals for the hosts in the second half saw the game end 4-0, which was a very disappointing start to the new campaign.
Looking ahead to the team news and Liverpool will be without first choice goalkeeper Alisson, who is injured. He will be replaced by Adrian with Nathaniel Clyne the only other confirmed absentee. James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri and Joel Matip could all start.
"We are ready."@VirgilvDijk on the #SuperCup, individual awards, @AdriSanMiguel and much more 👊— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 13, 2019
"We are ready."@VirgilvDijk on the #SuperCup, individual awards, @AdriSanMiguel and much more 👊
Chelsea are expected to be without Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Antonio Rüdiger and Callum Hudson-Odoi. It will be interesting to see if Kurt Zouma, Tammy Abraham, Ross Barkley and Mason Mount keep their places in the starting XI following the weekend.
There is no doubt Liverpool are the favourites to win this match. They have the settled team and Lampard will know his Chelsea team cannot afford another big defeat, so could adopt a more defensive approach. Nonetheless, Liverpool have the tools to break them down and win the UEFA Super Cup for the fourth time in their history, seeing over 2.5 goals in the process.